A royal reckoning: race, relevance and perhaps a rethink

Our system has worked pretty well for 154 years. Public expressions of republicanism in Canada have been rare—the last serious suggestion that we ditch the monarchy came from former deputy prime minister John Manley in 2002, and it was quickly dismissed. After the recent Oprah Winfrey interview with Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the issue is about to be revived.

Meghan and Harry, pictured in 2017 with Kate Middleton, gave a bombshell interview on March 7 to Oprah Winfrey, which is damaging the British Royal Family. In light of the hash the Royal Family continues to make of its reputation, replacing the monarchy in Canada is a conversation we should have, writes Geoff Norquay. Photograph courtesy of Commons Wikimedia

Opinion

BY GEOFF NORQUAY

March 15, 2021

Courtesy of the Second World War, I was born in Great Britain in 1946 to a Canadian father and a British mother. My Yorkshire grandmother was respectfully royalist, so I became aware of the monarchy at an early age. Later, when I fell in love with political science and public policy, I learned abou...

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